Voting Begins for 2011 ABA Board Elections

On Wednesday, March 23, all Regular Bookstore members were sent an e-mail from the American Booksellers Association that included a link to an electronic ballot for the 2011 election of ABA officers and directors. All voting is being conducted electronically, as authorized by a 2009 amendment to the ABA bylaws. One person per ABA Member ID number may vote, and a BookWeb log -in and the store ABA Member ID number are required. The voting deadline is midnight on April 25.

This year’s election offers the following candidates:

• For President – Becky Anderson, co-owner of Anderson’s Bookshops in Naperville and Downers Grove, Illinois, and of Anderson’s Bookfair Company in Aurora, Illinois
• For Vice President/Secretary – Steve Bercu, co-owner of BookPeople in Austin, Texas

The president and vice president/secretary will each serve one two-year term ending 2013. With the approval by membership of an ABA bylaws amendment this month, the association moved from a nine-person Board of Directors to a 10-person Board by making the position of Board president a separate and distinct position.

For Directors (terms ending 2014):

• John Evans, DIESEL Bookstores, in Brentwood and Oakland, California
• Matt Norcross, McLean & Eakin Booksellers, in Petoskey, Michigan
• Ken White, San Francisco State University Bookstore, in San Francisco, California

White currently serves on the Board and is eligible for a second three-year term.

A link to biographical information for each of the candidates was also included in the e-mail and is available here.

The ballot includes space for write-in candidates. No petitions were submitted in support of additional candidates for this year’s election.

The 2011 ABA Membership Meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 24, from 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m., at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City. The Annual Meeting will be preceded by the Town Hall meeting, from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. The Town Hall offers ABA member booksellers the opportunity to express opinions and share ideas with ABA Board members and staff in a less formal setting than the Membership Meeting.

ABA members with questions regarding the election of officers and directors can contact ABA’s current president, Michael Tucker of California’s Books Inc., directly; questions about the balloting should be directed to ABA COO Len Vlahos.